Effective Policies and Practices in Selected Career Fields. Final Report.

A research team gathered and disseminated information on effective tech prep policies and practices for developing and evaluating program curriculums in the broad career pathways of allied health, business, and engineering technology in Texas. Data were gathered through interviews, site visits, document analysis, and surveys. Curricular documents were analyzed for 255 tech prep programs in the 3 fields. Some of the conclusions were as follows: (1) the tech prep educational reform has had a significant positive influence on the work force development system in Texas; (2) tech prep programs have captured the attention and commitment of both the education and the business and industry sectors; and (3) the range of benefits of tech prep educational reform are obscured if only the aggregate numbers collected by state agencies are examined. Policy recommendations based on the findings of the study include the following: the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board should continue efforts to capture the more subtle benefits of tech prep educational reform; the board should make data available by program area and career pathway; and efforts should be increased to provide money to inform high school and community college counselors about tech prep reform. Products created during the project include a tech prep handbook and a monograph, "The Texas Tech Prep Consortia: Strategies for Advancing Technical Education." (The report includes 13 appendixes of project documents, containing survey form, telephone interview protocol, and data analysis.) (KC)